Jamie O'Hara makes telling Arsenal dig as he picks combined Gunners and Chelsea team
Arsenal travel to Chelsea on Sunday in what could be a crucial game in the race for a top-four spot, though the Gunners do not appear to have impressed Jamie O'Hara
by Jacob Leeks · The MirrorJamie O'Hara has hit out at William Saliba and Gabriel as he picked a combined Arsenal-Chelsea XI.
The Gunners travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon in the final Premier League game before the international break. The duo are currently contending for a top four place with Chelsea in fourth and Arsenal fifth.
Mikel Arteta's men have disappointed so far this term, with early hopes of challenging for the title quickly fading. That appears to have influenced former Tottenham star O'Hara's decision making when it comes to his combined team.
He has picked more Chelsea players than Arsenal stars in his line-up, despite the Blues' lack of success in recent years. O'Hara also aimed a dig at the number of goals Arsenal are conceding in comparison to the high regard Saliba and Gabriel are held in.
“I’d go with David Raya in goal – that’s an obvious one,” he told Grovensor Casino. “I’d have two Chelsea players in Reece James and Marc Cucurella in the full back positions – I’ve especially been impressed with Cucurella this season.
“The centre-back position is tricky. People talk about Gabriel and William Saliba being the best centre-back partnership in the world, but that’s all gone quiet now, hasn’t it? They’ve now conceded just one goal less than Manchester United!
"I think people need to calm down on some of the stuff they say about those two. Having said that, I’d still have both of them in my combined team because Chelsea’s centre-halves aren’t good enough.
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“Caicedo has been really good this season and he has to be in the team in midfield. He had a stormer against Manchester United last week and fully deserved his goal. Declan Rice hasn’t been great this season, but I’d still put him in there.
“Cole Palmer goes in the number 10 role without a shadow of doubt. On the wings, Noni Madueke has really impressed me this season, so I’ll have him on the right, with Bukayo Saka on the left. In the striker position, Nicolas Jackson gets there in front of Kai Havertz.”
Among the Gunners players left out of O'Hara's XI are Jurrien Timber, Ben White, Thomas Partey, Mikel Merino, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz. Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard has also been snubbed, though that may be due to the injury he only returned from during Wednesday night's defeat to Inter Milan.
Boss Arteta is confident he can pick his team up from that loss, which saw Odegaard make his first appearance since the September international break as a late substitute.
"If we play the way we play, we‘ll have a big chance to win against Chelsea. That‘s the way we have to go. I told them that I’m proud of them. I haven‘t seen them play in Europe in the manner that we have today," Arteta said.
"We are disappointed because we didn’t get what we wanted out of the game, that’s for sure. The worst thing of the night, for sure, is the result, because the performance, the attitude, the dominance that we showed, I haven’t seen it in all the other games that I’ve watched."
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